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DocFest set to light up screen in Homer

September 14th, 2017 | Tommy Wells

Nine award-winning documentaries will be shown during event

Better get your popcorn ready, friends. Beginning next Friday, there will be a lot of film being shown as the Homer Theatre stages its 14th-annual Documentary Film Festival on Sept. 21 through Sept. 28. A total of nine award-winning documentaries will be shown during the 8-day event, including several that have garnered high praise at shows such as the Sundance and SXSW (South x Southwest) film festivals.

The event will get under way on Sept. 21, when DocFest organizers stage an opening night gale featuring a barbecue dinner and a preview of each film entered. The gala is free of charge to patrons who have purchased a festival pass. The featured presentation during the opening night event will be "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth and Power."

"An Inconvenient Sequel" follows the efforts of former Vice President Al Gore as he attempts to spark an energy revolution. In the film, which is a sequel to "An Inconvenient Truth," which was released a decade ago to detail climate change, Gore travels around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy.

"An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth and Power" was an official selection by the SXSW, the American Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival. It wvas nominated for the 2017 cannes Film Festival and the Golden Eye award.

Also featured at DocFest are documentaries detailing the life of the Dalai Lama and the efforts of citizen journalists on the run from ISIS in Syria. "The Last Dalai Lama" is an uplifting film about the Tibetan Buddhism leader who is turning 82 and fquestioning if he will be the last of his lineage. The "City of Ghosts," follows a group of people as they deal with the realities of living under ISIS control in Syria.

"City of Ghosts" is from Oscar-nominated director Mathew Heineman.

Also on tap is "Sacred," a documentary filmed by more than 40 people from all over the globe that shows the impact of faith and spiritual practice on humans, and "Score," a film that allows viewers to get an inside look at the challenges and creative processes used by musicians to create theme songs for films. Among the works chronicled in the show are the iconic scores from the James Bond films and "Titanic."

Other documentaries shown will include "Step," "Bending The Arc," "Letters From Baghdad" and "Monterey Pop."

"Letters From Baghdad" follows the efforts of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman of her time in the British Empire. Bell helped fashion the future of Iraq and the Middle East following the end of World War II. Her efforts still reverberate in the region today.

Beginning on Sept. 22, four documentaries will be shown each day through Sept. 28.

DocFest passes are now on sale at the Homer Theatre. Individual tickets to films are also available.

For more information about DocFest or the Homer Theatre, please contact Colleen Carroll at (907) 235-1969.